Imbroglio
by Anonymess
Summary: A month has passed since the Infinite City Duel Incident, leaving the Central Continent without a leader or a champion. Feng Wen and company must now prepare for more than just the onslaught of media, but for war. (Sequel to Second Generation)
1. Prologue

**A/N: _Your wait is over, beloved readers! Or at least for the prologue, that is. For now I am unsure how frequent the updates will be, but I am aiming for every two weeks (With the exception of the first chapter, which will be released in the following week!). As always, feedback is absolutely required for stories to continue so please don't be shy about letting me know what you think. Don't forget to follow as well to make sure you get notified when the next chapter comes out as well!_**

* * *

I sat in the extremely crowded cafeteria of XX University, reading my tablet as I ate my lunch. Of course, I don't know why I even bothered reading the news on my device since it consisted of the same type of stories that were being featured for the past month: the recent events revolving around the famous players of _Life 2.0_, namely the champion of the Battle Tournament, Yi Min, and Prince of Odd Squad. _Ever since Infinite City Duel Incident, all the media ever talks about is the whereabouts of the famed warriors as they have not logged in since then. This new face of evil in Life 2.0, that player named Fan from Moon City, also appeared declaring war on Prince and his domain. This new rebellion as well as Prince's lack of presence in the game is tearing the Central Continent apart, almost at the brink of a civil war!_

"Excuse me," Said someone, bringing me out of my thoughts. I looked up to see two guys about my age standing in front of my four seat table which I was sitting alone at. One had jet black hair tucked into a baseball cap with glasses that were simply just too large for his face; wearing a hoodie that was equally too much for his thin frame. He was on crutches with his left foot in a cast to the middle of his calf, making him unable to carry a lunch tray that his friend was carrying for him instead. This friend was taller than him, wearing a beanie and black thick-rimmed glasses; generally more normal looking than his black-haired counterpart. "can we sit here? Everywhere else is taken." The black haired guy asked.

"Uh, sure. Don't see any harm in it!" I replied, moving some of my belongings closer to me that I had scattered across the table. They both sat down, with the black haired guy resting his crutches against the table. I glanced over at their lunch trays, curious as to what they had bought. The first one was pretty simple, it had a hamburger, fries and a soda on it since today the school was selling American food. When I looked at the other tray, which was placed in front of the black-haired guy, I nearly did a double take by the sheer quantity. He had at least three hamburgers, two things of fries as well as two slices of pizza as well. He dug in nearly immediately, a hamburger in one hand and a slice of pizza in the other. "A-Are you going to eat all that...?" I couldn't help but ask.

He looked at me inquisitively, tilting his head to the side slightly. "Hmm, yeah. Why? Did you want some? They still have plenty up there!"

"No, no. Just... Just curious." I replied, slightly disturbed. _Who could eat that much in one sitting? And stay that thin at that! Does he have a tapeworm or something? _I wondered.

I returned back to my tablet to look at more news sites as the two ate, though as to why I don't know. Every now and then I would sigh out loud as I went to another news feed only to find essentially the same stories once again. _Is this what all people care about today? Celebrities? I mean I never had anything against either Prince or Yi Min, so I hope nothing bad happened to them, but this is ridiculous. It's been a month now, I'm sure more has happened outside of a pair of glorified gamers deciding to not play a game for a little bit. _Apparently my sighs were not unheard when the black haired guy spoke up, "Is something wrong?"

"Hm..." I wasn't quite sure if I could speak so shamelessly about two famous players in front of two strangers. _But they're both men, so at best they probably idolize or respect them unlike most of the girls here who squeal or faint at the mere sight of them._ I reasoned. "Well, to be honest I'm kind of frustrated with the news feeds lately. It's constantly 'Yi Min this' or 'Prince that', as if they are the two most important beings in the world!"_  
_

Oddly, both of them tensed up with the black haired guy looking anxious. "Tch, of course no one cares that Zhi Sano disappeared too..." the taller guy mumbled before his friend elbowed him in the arm.

The black haired guy relaxed a little bit, an expression of empathy on his face. "I completely agree with you! People die every day of wars, disease and famine, yet all they talk about is silly celebrities!" The black haired guy gave a small laugh, "I mean, they don't even know what they're really like in the real world!"

"Yeah, I mean Yi Min may shamelessly take people's snacks!" The taller guy joked, which resulted in a strange death glare from the black haired boy. The taller guy seemed to look over past the black haired guy towards the floor, squinting his eyes a little bit. "Hey, I think you dropped some of your change!"

"Again?" Asked the black haired boy, acting exasperated. "It's these damn pants, I swear. If it wasn't for my stupid cast, I could wear my normal pair..." He mumbled as he leaned down towards the floor to pick up the coins.

_**"OH MY GAWD IT'S HIM! IT'S REALLY HIM!"** A_ couple of girls suddenly screamed a couple of tables over from us, looking right at the black haired boy. He suddenly shot straight up, his hat completely gone and his glasses in his hand. With the hat and glasses gone, it exposed his messy jaw length hair and a face that could make any man jealous and any woman lose their composure.

"No way, you're..." I mumbled, realizing who was actually sitting at my table now.

"Damn it, Feng Wen! Your hat fell off _again! _And why did you take your glasses off!?" The taller man griped, ripping off his hat and glasses to quickly stow them away in his backpack.

"Because they would have fallen off as well, Hong Peng!" He replied, his eyes growing larger as he saw the girls quickly getting up. "Hong Peng hurry, you know the plan!" Feng Wen quickly grabbed his crutches as Hong Peng swung his backpack over his shoulder. In one motion Hong Peng scooped Feng Wen into his arms fireman-style, and preceded to make a dash for the exit. Before they had left the cafeteria, I saw Feng Wen wave at me and shout, "Thank you and nice to meet you, by the way!"


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: _Hello again, readers! As promised, I said I would release the "official" first chapter within the week, which was quicker than I expected. Remember to review or PM as well, because I want to know what you (Yes, you my lurkers!) think. If it wasn't for all of you, there wouldn't even be a sequel._**

**_Any readers of Illusion don't fret as well, I will be updating shortly once I get everything under control in the other aspects of my life. There's also a poll on my profile that I would appreciate that everyone would do, it'll help me do better in regards to balancing what stories are wanted the most. _**

* * *

**Feng Wen's PoV**

I sat in one of the chairs of my mom's hospital suite, anxiously waiting to hear the results of my examination. It had been over a month since Fan revealed himself as a threat, both in real life as well as _Life 2.0_, where it all started. In that time period I was stuck either in the hospital or my home because of my injuries as well as Mom's, who took a stab wound in the shoulder to protect me from Fan's lookalike robot. Until today that was, where I had gotten to go to school for the first time in what seemed like a century. _Of course because I wanted to be around people so bad, I made the unwise decision of eating in the cafeteria... And being seen..._ _Which made us have to leave school earlier because of all those crazy fans. _I sighed remembering the incident from earlier, having to be carried out of the school by Hong Peng because of my fractured ankle. _Ugh, I hope no one took pictures of that. God forbid what the media would make of that scene. _

The door to the suite opened quietly, but not without me noticing. A gentle looking man with glasses walked in, a medical tablet in hand with a stylus in the other. For many years, I thought of Dr. Tian Lang as my family doctor and friend of the family; he was even the doctor that delivered both my sister and I. Not until recently did I learned that he was actually Ugly Wolf, famous member of the Odd Squad and a patron of the priest class. He smiled at me, which I returned, and walked over to the bed Mom was currently napping on after eating her lunch. Of course Dad slouched over in the chair next to bed, asleep as well while holding her hand. Dad had gone on leave from school since the Warehouse incident, and wasn't going to return till Mom was well enough to go home. _Which should hopefully be today or tomorrow, with what Dr. Tian was saying._

"Feng Wen?" I suddenly heard coming from Dr. Tian, who I noticed had called me more than once.

"Huh? Yeah?" I replied dumbly, having been pulled out of my thoughts.

Dr. Tian chuckled, shaking his head a bit. "Ah, just like your mom sometimes." He smiled at me, and then scanned a little code on the bed that held all of Mom's medical information. "I'm glad to say I have good news! All that's left for your mom is physical therapy sessions, as the wound is nearly done healing and she has 80% of its function back. After the therapy, it'll be good as new! And as for you..."

"Yes?" I waited with baited breath. _Good results, please!_

"Your ankle still has a few more weeks till it's done, however your scan came back reporting that your concussion has fully healed!" Dr. Tian replied, knowing the last bit was what I was really hoping for. Because Virtual Reality games are very intrusive on the brain, it's dangerous to play when the brain has suffered any sort of injury; which left me unable to play _Life 2.0_. Because of this, Hong Peng decided he would also not play till I was better. _"It would be so boring without you!" _Was his excuse for not doing so.

A huge grin exploded on my face, excited to finally play again. "What about Mom?" I asked, not forgetting about the other person who had been left unable to play. Because natural sleep was much better for recovery than an artificially induced one, she was told she couldn't play until Dr. Tian felt she was healed enough to do so. Without any sort of outlet like the game or cooking had caused Mom to be irritable as the days went along, even with Dad refusing to also play until she was able to.

"Yes, I think relieving some stress and boredom would be good for her. I also don't want to see what she'll do next after she put that poor nurse in a triangle choke*..." Dr. Tian replied with a sigh. _How could I have forgotten about that? That nurse was giving Dad and I weird looks until Mom got a hold of her. "Don't you dare look at my husband and son that way!" Or something along those lines is what Mom yelled at her._

* * *

"It's good to be home." Mom said, smiling as we entered the house. It was late at night when we got back, so we flipped the lights on. As always, the house was neat and clean thanks to Kenshin, who was a worse clean freak than Mom was. _  
_

"It's good that you're better now..." My dad said softly as he came up behind her. He wrapped his arms around her lightly, making sure not to put pressure anywhere near her sling.

Catching the mood and not wanting to be a part of it at all, I quickly said goodnight and went into my room. _It's understandable Dad wants some alone time with Mom, after all we've been constantly around security or medical staff for over a month now. Just don't do it while I'm in the room! _I lamented, always seeming to be in the room when they decided to be romantic with each other. _  
_

My room seemed exactly as it was when I went to sleep the night I was kidnapped, my bed made and in the corner in the room; my desk on the opposite side of the room near the window and bookcase; my wooden door painted a pristine white. Not how in the pictures the police showed me the night after we got to the hospital, with the bed tossed over and my door broken off the hinges. The only thing that wasn't the same though was my laptop that normally sat on the desk, which was not recovered. _They probably sold it to buy junk, like drugs or alcohol. _I sighed, pushing the thought out of my mind. _Gotta stay optimistic, after all you're back home to stay now!_

With some difficulty, I changed into my pajamas and crawled into my bed. My headset was thankfully recovered, and was sitting on my nightstand as though it had been faithfully waiting for my return. _Well, can't leave Hong Peng waiting any longer._ I grabbed my helmet, turned it on and laid down as sleep began to wash over me...

* * *

I opened my eyes to bright sunlight and in an empty stadium, Infinite Arena. As expected, I was exactly where I was when I logged off a month ago: sitting in the middle of the battlefield. _Fan had just logged off, and everyone was down here. Hong Peng, Shui-yima, Dad and... Mom. _Thinking of Mom as Prince was still a very weird experience, one that I doubted I was going to used to for a while.

"Yi, over here!" I heard a familiar high-pitched voice. I turned to see Zhi Sano, Hong Peng's chubby cheeked avatar, running towards me from the gate. "I figured you'd log in as soon as you got home, so I just waited around. God only knows how lost you would have gotten if you had gone looking for me!"

I gave him a quick glare, "Hush, you!"

"That's the Yi Min we all know and love!" He teased, sticking his tongue out at me. "So... What now?"

"Well we'll just-" I paused, the realization hitting me. _What **is **next? I had been so focused on the Tournament, on getting to Prince, that I never thought about what would happen afterwards. _"I don't know."

As if to answer our question, suddenly two bright balls lights appeared beside us. Materialized in front of us were Guiliastes and Prince; both looking quite disoriented. "Geez, I didn't feel this out of sort when we first logged on in over _thirty years_!" Prince said, rubbing his eyes as he adjusted to the sunny weather.

Guiliastes, or should I say Dad, walked over to Prince and gave him a comforting hug; seemingly oblivious to Zhi or I's presence. "Well, it's not like we never played during that period. The medication probably isn't helping you either..." He said quietly.

The old lump in my throat filled with jealousy and hate was starting to form as I watched the scene, till my father mentioned the medication. _Mom _was the only word that registered in my brain before the mass amount of confusion hit me. Even though I knew in my head that Prince was in fact my mother, someone I love so dearly, looking at her male alter ego produced all the resentment I carried before I learned. Frankly, it was quite draining on my mental state.

* * *

**Prince's PoV**

Entering the game felt like a roller coaster, leaving me disoriented and weakened when I finally was in-game. Apparently part of it was just being out of it for so long as Gui experienced it as well. _Maybe our age is finally catching up to us. _I thought to myself, as I had never had the problem during long hiatus from these types of games till now. In order to comfort me, my husband came over and held me as I regained my composure. However, I was unaware we had company till I heard someone pipe, "Ahem!"

Quickly breaking out of our embrace in fear of being founded out, I turned to find my son Feng Wen and his best friend Hong Peng in their respective characters. Hong Peng, who's character was the child-like Zhi Sano, had a sly smile as he saw us acknowledge their presence. My son, the now famous Yi Min, had a conflicted expression on his face as if he was having a inner crisis. This of course sent me into overactive mother mode, rushing over to him and placing my hand on his arm. "Is there something wrong?" I asked, worriedly.

Feng Wen's face became even more conflicted as he looked straight at me, as if at a loss of what to do. His face flushed a slight pink and eventually stammered, "N-No, nothing is wrong... Mom."

Before I could ask why he seemed so flustered, I received a P.M from my sister-in-law Lolidragon. _"__Prince? About time you logged in! We've got some serious problems!"_

_"What's wrong?" _I asked, having a feeling I already knew what was wrong. _I knew there were some problems in game involving Fan, but how bad could it be...?_

_"Get to the war room in the castle, I'll explain as soon as you arrive. Bring Feng Wen and his friend too!" _She replied, leaving me with goosebumps. _The war room? We haven't used the war room since we united the Central Continent..._

I looked over to Gui, who seemed to have received the same message as I did. "Boys, we need to go to the castle now. All of us." He said urgently to them.

"What about people seeing all of us together? Or people seeing us _period? _We've kind of been M.I.A for over a month now, with Princ- I mean Mom and I drawing the largest attention." Feng Wen asked, pointing out a very big problem. Though I had become distracted by the fact he had to correct himself when referring to me, _Does he still not see me as his mother? _The idea of it was clawing at my already weakend mental state._  
_

I pulled myself together, addressing the problem at hand. "We can just teleport to the castle, so we can avoid them all together!"

"Not possible, unfortunately." Gui interjected, "You have to had been in the castle walls at least once to be able to teleport there with a teleportation scroll or spell. Feng Wen would be the only one unable to do so just by that fact. Neither you or I have scrolls anyway, since we usually have Yu Lian use her teleportation spell."

"Only one unable to!?" Feng Wen exclaimed as he turned to Hong Peng, "When have you been in the castle!?"

Hong Peng looked away shyly, trying to look at anything but Feng Wen's face. Eventually, he settled on examining Gui's harp that hung at his hip. "Uh, it's a long story..."

_"Anyway," _Gui interrupted, "since it's urgent we all get there as soon as possible, we're just going to have to walk to Infinite Castle... together."

* * *

**Triangle Choke: A judo move where the user basically wraps their legs around their opponent in a triangle like shape. Reference to Wikipedia and your local judo dojos for more info/to learn (I do not advocate using it on innocent people, however!).**


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: _Goooddd evening, readers! On this rainy night (Well, where I live anyway.) I bring to you chapter 2 of Imbroglio, which hopefully you guys have been waiting for. As always, reviews, and over all feedback is a necessary to continue on- so don't forget it!_**

* * *

**Feng Wen's PoV**

Something was _very _wrong.

When walking out of the arena and into the masses, I expected the usual to happen: people (the majority being women) screaming, fawning and chasing after three of the most popular individuals in the game. But there was no screams, or chases or even a slight fawn. Instead there were hushed whispers and mumbles as the four of us passed through the crowds, the only thing seemingly normal were the mesmerized stares as we walked past.

We were a half mile away from the castle when I sped up from my third position in our line to walk along side Prince (Dad had decided to keep Mom and I in the middle of the group because of our terrible sense of direction.). "Mom, what's going on? This can't be because of Fan, is it?" I whispered, leaning in slightly to make sure I was heard over the buzz of other conversations going on in the crowd.

Prince turned so he could whisper back in my ear, "I'm not sure yet either, Feng Wen. We'll find out everything once we meet up with your aunt." The crowd had suddenly gotten louder, which gave me a feeling it was far from coincidence in regard to Prince and I's interaction. _What are they thinking... _I turned away from Prince to glance around the crowd, meeting a variety of expressions as I met eyes with some of them. _I've stayed away from the gossip surrounding me for over a month, I can only imagine what they'll be saying now..._

That last half mile seemed the longest out of the entire trip, but finally we were at the main entrance of Infinite Castle. The castle was just as grand as ever, with its looming towers and heavily guarded borders yet now it featured scars as well as scorch marks on the stonework of the walls. _Surely those weren't caused by players, were they?_ Neither Prince or Dad had to say a word as the guards immediately opened the gate for us; though for some reason they kept giving nervous glances at Zhi, who returned with a triumphant smile.

"Why did we go through the main entrance? Surely there is a back way to get inside?" I asked as we walked through the lush gardens.

"And have the crowd following us find out those entrances?" My father asked incredulously. "Besides, revealing that Prince has returned may soothe those that felt abandoned. And with you being the 'City's Champion', showing your face may also relieve some tension."

"Ah..." I replied simply, though not completely convinced by his argument. _With how they were looking at us, especially with Prince and I together, I think it just made things worse... _I fell back to walk alongside Zhi as Mom sped up to Dad since we reached the massive oak doors that were the entrance to the fortress.

"Try not to worry too much about the politics of the situation, Feng Wen. After all, that's your mother and I's problem, not yours." Dad said soothingly as he pushed open the doors; turning his head to give me his gentle smile.

_"I wouldn't be too sure about that..."_ Zhi whispered to me, raising his eyebrow skeptically at my father's words.

_"What do you mean?" _I asked as we walked through the doors, entering the large foyer. There was a giant staircase in the middle of the room, that led up to a balcony where another pair of large wooden doors were centered with the staircase; no doubt being the throne room. There were also a number of doors that lined the walls of the balcony as well as the walls below it. Overall it was a very grand entrance room, that no doubt was designed by my father. _Hell, if I remember right Infinite Castle is still considered the most beautiful player structure to date in Life 2.0 and Second Life's history._

_"Let's be realistic here, Feng Wen." _Zhi began, this being a rare moment of him calling me by my real name in-game. _"It's only a matter of time now before the public finds out you're either Prince's or Guiliastes' son. And then it's only a matter of time before the public starts putting two and two together that Prince is a woman, especially since it's not exactly uncommon knowledge that Professor Min Gui Wen is married, and we don't exactly have the technology to produce a biological child between two men."_

_"But what does that have to do with politics?"_ I asked, a bit bewildered by where Zhi was going at.

Zhi nearly tripped up the stairs, causing my parents to stop and look at him questionably. Zhi waved his hand that he was okay, but when he turned to me his face suddenly changed to an expression of irritation. _"Feng Wen, I swear... What I'm saying is that you're going to eventually be dragged into the political side of this game because of your parents kind of being politicians in this game, and extremely important ones at that. Your mother is the most famous player to date, and the Overlord of the most populous continent in-game. Your father is publicly known as Prince's right hand adviser, and also a famous player for being part of the Odd Squad. And on top of all that is when the little factoid of Prince and Gui's child winning the Battle Tournament that Prince hosted is revealed, all hell is going to break loose in the media." _

We had reached the top of the balcony, where I saw at the left and right of balcony were hallways. My parents went left, and we walked through the slightly chilly stone hallways that were lined with torches. _"At that point," _Zhi silently lifted his hand, raising two of his fingers. _"you're going to only have two options. You can continue to try and ignore the onslaught of the public, that will make what you've seen so far a walk in the park. Or two, you can step up and take control of your public image by formally declaring your parentage and your association with the Odd Squad. And if you don't plan on completely annihilating yourself in society, I would go with option two."_

The hallway was long, our footsteps echoing against the stone floor. I appreciated the length of the walk though, because Zhi had just given me one of the toughest and life defining decisions I would face in my life. The whole situation only weighed heavier on me the longer we walked, my mind unable to handle the flood of emotions and thoughts there were being spawned. Through the sea of processes in my head, something Dad said rang through the noise. _'I don't see much of anything ever going back to how it used to be.' is what he told me before the duel. Did he know that things would turn out like this? That me finding out Mom is Prince would create an irreversible domino effect, even if Fan hadn't gotten involved?_

I felt a small bump to my lower back, as if someone had thrown a beanbag at me. I looked to see Zhi with his left hand curled up in a fist, his eyes narrowed. _"Hey, don't get all bummed out on me just because of what I said!" _He said, _"I just said what I did because I want you to be aware of what's to come, so that when the moment comes you'll make the right choice. But for now, just calm down and enjoy the moment that you're in Infinite Castle, something that nearly every person has dreamed of! Enjoy the moment you're with your parents, and that your previous ideas about Prince were false! There are still silver linings to these gray clouds!"_

Before I could ask as to why Zhi seemed so wise in such an obscure subject, my parents finally stopped in front of a metal door that had an eye-level identification device on the lock; which made it look very out of place in the medieval themed castle. Muffled voices could be heard through the walls but not the door, which told me the door itself was probably quite thick. Prince walked up to the device, looking straight into the little screen. Suddenly a holographic scanner appeared and ran across Prince's face, focusing particularly on his eyes. **"Positive I.D; Player Prince, Overlord of the Central Continent." **It chimed in a feminine, robotic voice. The door swung open, revealing the volume of the room inside to be nearly eardrum-shattering with the amount of screaming and yelling.

_**"What do you mean there are players demanding refunds for the Battle Tournament!?"**_A woman screamed, sounding absolutely outraged at the idea. I couldn't see because my parents were still standing in front of the door, their eyes threatening to pop out at whatever was going on inside.

_**"With those damn rumors on top of the accusation of a scandal, they think the tournament was rigged!"** _Another female voice yelled, who sounded like it was my aunt Shui Han.

**"Ladies, please!" **I heard a gruff male voice boom, but was ignored among more shouting.

_**"And what are we suppose to do about it? If we give in, we just confirm their false accusations and destroy our reputation!"** _The first voice cracked, the owner growing increasingly emotional by the sound of her voice.

Suddenly, Prince gave a cough that silenced the room. From the side, I saw his expression had changed to one of the fearless leader he was known for; an expression that quickly irritated me. _No, Feng Wen! You've got to remember that's Mom! _I quickly told myself, trying to calm my subconscious reaction. However no matter how much I tried to see Mom in that expression, the woman who would make me cookies and read me bed time stories as a young child, I just was unable to. _It's like her entire demeanor changes when she's Prince... _

"Prince..." I heard another voice say, this one sounding like a young girl.

"I know this is stressful time, but let's at least act like the adults when we are in front of new company." He said, moving himself inside the room as Dad followed closely behind him. I took that as my cue to enter the room, with Zhi following me as well. The room was a decent size for how many people were inside, which was roughly around fifteen to twenty individuals. They were all seated or had seats at a large, round glass table that had monitor built in the center of the inside of the table, allowing everyone to be able to see what was on the screen. On top of that was a large screen that was on the wall directly across from the door, also allowing visibility to everyone in the room no matter where they were seated. All eyes focused on Zhi and I, though it was evident they were more interested in me than in Zhi.

"Feng Wen!" Squeaked a familiar voice, to which suddenly there was soft and round orb in my arms.

"Meatbun!?" I replied, totally astonished to see our family pet in the game.

"Meatbun-bun missed Feng Wen! Meatbun-bun wondered when he could play with Mommy and Feng Wen in the castle!" Meatbun exclaimed happily, snuggling closer to my chest. No more than a second later Meatbun was suddenly asleep, producing soft snores that were actually quite cute.

Hearing how happy Meatbun was to see me helped my mood a bit, knowing that the only thing the little pet was concerned about was eating and playing with those he loved. _Even something as simple as this can be a silver lining, I suppose. _I smiled as I whispered to the now sleeping pet, _"I missed you too, Meatbun."  
_


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: Good evening, readers! Who read the new chapter of the 1/2 Prince manhua today? Because I sure did (I had been waiting for that particular chapter for quite some time now ;D), so if you haven't yet I recommend it! Here is the latest installment of Imbroglio, which I know some of you have been waiting for! Make sure to review or P.M me your thoughts, and don't be shy to nag me about a new chapter - I need the push sometimes!**

**Also for all the Illusion fans, don't fret! I am almost done with the next chapter, I'm just _very_ slow with that particular story (But it's still going!). With that being said, Imbroglio may start slowing down as well because of finals/work/life that need to be dealt with. **

* * *

We quietly seated ourselves, with Prince taking himself at the head of the table with Dad at his right and with me sitting to his left. Zhi sat to the left of me; who for once did not look out of place with the presence of Doll at the table, Odd Squad's necromancer. Of course I still continued to hold Meatbun in my arms, if for anything comfort of the impending news we were about to hear. _I doubt we were called here so quickly for anything except bad news._

"Alright Lolidragon, spill. And all of it, don't even bother to sugarcoat a single thing." Prince commanded, glancing over to me at the second sentence.

My aunt let out a loud, drawn out sigh before she began. "Well, since you have been in the hospital for over a month you've been isolated from everything that has transpired in that time period from the media to in _Life 2.0, _so let me start from the beginning." Shui-yima then flicked her right wrist, the monitors turning on and displaying a numerous amount of news articles. With the same hand, she snapped her fingers and the monitor in the table displayed a 3-D hologram of a crowd of people carrying a flag, in front and facing them the familiar face of my kidnapper: Fan. "After you and Feng Wen were emitted into XX Hospital, Fan took advantage of your absence in-game and started a rebellion in Moon City. At first we thought we could subdue it, sending Nan Gong Zui and Ice Phoenix as diplomats since they were natives of the city on top of having the governor of Moon City go with them to meet some of the self-appointed leaders of the rebellion. But..."

"But...?" Prince asked.

Nan Gong Zui was the one to reply, "They could not be soothed- feeling not only abandoned by their Overlord who had been gone for a week by that time but also cheated, since their own City's Champion in the Battle Tournament, Mirage, was defeated by Yi Min who is at the heart of all the rumors."

"And because of this, the governor was actually killed in a riot by the rebellion, and promptly driven out of his own city. With the governor gone, we have officially lost control of Moon City and now is under Fan's control." Shui-yima finished. The words hung heavily in the air, the idea of Prince losing control over his domain was nearly unfathomable. "With Moon City now the base of the rebellion, there are other insurgents appearing in the other cities under your control, including Infinite City. With the loss of not only its continent's Overlord, but its own governor the city is having a crisis. When you went offline, we had to struggle to find someone who could fill your spot as governor for the time being, so we ultimately picked Wicked since he was head of the military department and would be similar in how he would run the city. Well..."

"That didn't go according to plan, either." A long haired blonde elf spoke up, unmistakably being my brother-in-law Zhou-gege. "Even though I was just a stand in till you or Gui reappeared, a good half of the city completely rejected me as a leader on the terms that their allegiance was only to Prince, and no one else. On top of that were the insurgents, who riled up those that rejected my leadership even more and leading them to into an attempt to take over the castle. Of course they were no match for the garrison and the physical defenses of the fortress, but as I am sure you saw it did leave scars on the architecture."

"This rebellion has also created a financial depression from merchants bailing out on Infinite City for more stable cities, or continents for that matter. So basically Infinite City is in absolute turmoil spiritually and financially because of the loss of its leader, and that is the first thing you are going to have to do is resolve this on top of dealing with the rumors!" Said a black haired woman that I recognized as Yu Lian, Odd Squad's mage and financial adviser.

"And here we are at the very heart of the problem." Lolidragon said, snapping her fingers again. The monitors began to focus on particular news articles, the titles of them making me cringe. _**"Latest in Battle Tournament Scandal!"**_and _**"Love Triangle of the Century!"** _being particularly painful to look at. "Since the Infinite City Duel Incident, the media is out of control with wild speculations and theories, most of them being absolutely ridiculous like you double timing Gui and Yi Min. But there a few that are dangerously close to the truth like Yi Min being related to you as your brother or nephew."

"Either way as to how close they are to the truth," Ugly Wolf began, propping his head up against his right hand. "all of our reputations are taking a serious blow. It would be foolish to deny at this point that there is no connection between Yi Min and the Odd Squad, especially after the scene nearly half of the world saw when Fan logged off." I guessed that Ugly Wolf was referring to the moment Prince grabbed and embraced me, which in retrospect now makes a lot more sense as to why that happened. _  
_

Prince's face went pink, and flickered his eyes away from the group. "S-Sorry, I couldn't think at the time... But even so, you can't expect me to not react like that when my son had been kidnapped..."

Dad was quick to defend, something he always did when Mom was criticized for anything. "Why should Prince take all the blame? What about me? Do you think I would have acted differently if I had known that this would have been the result? No! He's our son, for God's sakes. Everyone here is just as guilty as we are, even Lolidragon was crying!"

"Everyone please, calm yourselves!" Ugly Wolf replied, quieting the group that was quickly becoming noisy. "I wasn't blaming anyone for anything, especially considering what happened. What I am trying to say is we are going to have to deal with the repercussions of everything that has transpired till now. Even before the kidnapping, there have been rumors revolving around the relationships between the three of you; I would probably even say as soon as Yi Min debuted at his first match."

"So what would you recommend me to do about this?" Prince asked, sitting up straight from his previous lounging position in his chair. "As you said, at this point we can't deny that Feng Wen has a connection to the Odd Squad. But what can we say without revealing well... Everything...?"

The room buzzed with chatter and suggestions from everyone at the table, but I didn't pay attention to what was being said. Instead I was sucked into my own thoughts, constantly going back to the advice that Zhi gave me not even a hour before. _Should I just let my parents handle this, and try to live peacefully? Or... _I didn't need to finish the last option, because that was the one I decided right then I was going to take. _It's time that I finally take control of what I do, instead of letting the media dictate my decisions._ I put Meatbun on the table and quickly stood up, silencing the room. "May I make a suggestion?" I asked, looking over at Prince.

Prince gave me a motherly smile as he nodded and replied, "Of course."

I nodded back, seeing a small glimpse of my mother behind her avatar in that smile. I turned to look at every individual that sat at the table as I spoke, "What has been lost is the trust of the people; they feel lied to, cheated and unimportant by their leader. While this has only come to head after I entered the game, after I had been kidnapped by Fan- I believe all of this was nothing more than a catalyst to the inevitable." I took a deep breath to calm myself, preparing myself for what I was about to say next. "If we are going to gain back the trust of the public, than we need to give them the truth. All of it."

I looked over at my parents, who looked as if I declared I was dropping out of university to be professional panhandler. My father was the first to response, "Feng Wen... Why?"

I took another breath to steady myself, my emotions and nerves acting up from an idea that I was fearful of myself. "Mom... Dad... Do you really think you were going to hide these secrets forever? That Dr. Min Gui Wen is married to Prince, or that Prince is actually a woman and a mother at that? That Lan Lan-jiejie and I are your children? Now the world even knows that Prince- that Mom saved the world from being dominated by a terrorist! That..." My train of thought began to unravel, my pent up emotions taking control. "That those s-scars on Dad's chest in real life came from saving Mom's life..." The more I thought about all the secrets, the lump in my throat increased as well as the difficulty to hold back the tears that were threatening to escape.

Prince jumped up immediately and grabbed a hold of me, bringing me to his shoulder. "Feng Wen... I'm sorry..." He choked, sounding on the verge of tears himself. "I kept it all from you because I thought it would keep you safe, but I was wrong. I was horribly, horribly wrong. Please forgive us... Forgive me..."

I clenched his armor as I buried my face into his shoulder, not giving a damn that I was crying like a baby in front of a group of people. If there was one person I couldn't hide my tears from, it was Mom. "These secrets have done nothing but cause pain, Mom... They've caused pain in the people who trusted you as a leader, and they caused me to feel such resentment to someone I love..."

I felt another pair of arms wrap around me, which I knew belonged to my father. Mom pulled me into a tighter embrace and whispered in my ear, "No more secrets, then."


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: _Ladies and Gentlemen, I am pleased to inform you that I am not dead yet and neither is this story! After the great struggle that is higher education and severe writer's block, we come to chapter 4 of Imbroglio! I appreciate everyone's patience and loyalty during my dry spell, which I have tried to give back in a chapter that is brimming with intensity. As always, let me know your thoughts as I love to hear them!_**

_**This chapter was made possible by a meatbun and marshmallow, that without them I probably still be hungry.**_

* * *

_"No more secrets, then."_ The words that Prince spoke echoed in my mind as I regained my composure. While they were meant for comfort and reassurance, I felt neither from them. Instead they only stirred the storm of emotions that was inside of me, leaving me feeling conflicted and more agitated. I roughly pulled away from my parents, leaving both my father and Prince with a concerned look. I ignored their gaze and sat down, not wanting to look at Prince's face.

_But Prince is Mom! _Part of me said, trying reason with my confused heart. _How can she be Prince? How could she act in the manner that Prince does? Mom is gentle, caring and modest in her demeanor. While Prince is aggressive, cold, arrogant, obnoxious, pompous, good for nothing bastard!_ I heard scream inside my head, _If he had never existed, none of this would have happened! I wouldn't have had to go through the Battle Tournament just to find out what happened, that spineless excuse of a human named Fan would have never bothered us, which meant I would have never gotten kidnapped and stuck in a hospital for a month!_

The argument between my conflicted beliefs continued, causing my heart to ache and my mood more irritable. _Why does it all have to be so complicated?_

When everyone had sat down, Shui-yima began to address the group again."While I'm glad we have finally decided to enlighten millions of girls that they have raging hormones for a middle aged woman and her teenage son, we also need to address the matters that are concerning in the game as well." She pulled up a map of the Central Continent, where countless red dots were covering the land. "Fan is mobilizing an army as we speak for a full scale assault on Infinite City. If we don't have an army to meet him with by tomorrow night, we might as well surrender!"

"Like hell we'll surrender to a coward like him!" I exclaimed, standing up as the sheer idea of it made my blood boil. _How dare she even bring the thought to mind!_ "I'd rather be tied up and stripped naked at school before I'd let him set one foot in this city!"

I felt a hand on my shoulder, turning around to see Prince. "Now, now calm down Feng Wen." He tried to soothe me, "You don't need to worry about it, I'll make sure that Fan is in forty different pieces before he even gets within ten meters of the city walls!"

"What? No way!" I protested, appalled that he had the gall to say such a thing to me. _W__ho does he think he is to tell me to just sit back and not worry!?_ "That bastard's head is mi-"

_"**WILL YOU TWO SHUT UP FOR ONE GODDAMN MINUTE?" **_I heard my aunt yell, her tone being the one I always dreaded hearing as a child. We both went silent immediately, with me sitting down like I always did whenever she spoke with the tone. "You can bicker all you want over who gets to mutilate Fan later, right now we need to figure out how we are going to solve this problem! Right now the city is split down the middle as to whether they should stand by your side or not, and though you want to tell the truth the worst thing we can do now is reveal all of it right now."

"Lolidragon makes a point," My father replied, his finger on his bottom lip. "If we decided to tell everything now, we'll only be shooting ourselves in the foot. People will be reeling from the shock of finding out Prince's identity on top of Feng Wen being our child, who is now a high-profile individual as well."

"Then what are we supposed to do?" Zhi said, giving a skeptical look. "Just continue to lie to world? How long can you keep this masquerade going before it all comes crashing down?" I couldn't help but give out a small sigh. _T__his is just going to get us nowhere, now._ I looked at the giant slab of metal that was the entrance to the room, vaguely aware of the murmurs forming from Zhi's remark though countless thoughts were running through my head. _I need to get out of here and actually do something. Sitting around and arguing is not going to get us any closer to bringing Fan to justice. __  
_

Dad's expression became disgruntled, "I never said lie to them! We just- Wait, Feng Wen where are you going?" Was all I heard before the door shut behind me.

* * *

**Prince's PoV**

Feng Wen's sudden departure caused an uncomfortable silence among the room. After a minute, his friend Zhi Sano heaved an exasperated sigh. "He's become so rash, now-a-days. That cool, collected nature disappeared when he dueled you, Prince."

"What do you mean?" I asked, curious as to what insight he had with Feng Wen's change in demeanor._  
_

The young boy propped his head up with his arm on the table, facing me directly. "You have to understand exactly what Feng Wen has been going through. Since the beginning of the Battle Tournament he had this idea that Prince was some sort of arrogant playboy, who had messed around in the marriage of his parents. He was calm and collected going in, but as time went on he became more and more obsessed with bringing you down. Then when he finally got there, Fan pops up literally out of nowhere and completely flips his world upside down. And I won't even start with how he feels about the media!"

I mulled over Zhi Sano's words, trying my best to put myself in my son's shoes. I only knew what I saw in the matches and whatever Gui learned about before the duel, but even with that little amount of information I saw a small aspect of the picture that Zhi had painted. Every glance towards me grew more resentful with each match, the tone of his voice becoming bitter whenever he addressed me. I knew he had a misconception about me, but never to that extent. After the incident with Fan, in real life he would frequently give me an conflicted look as if he was unsure who I was. _How much of this is because of Fan's hand? Would he have acted differently if he had found out a different way?_

I stood up and pushed in my chair, everyone's gaze still on me. "I'm going to find Feng Wen."

Gui gave a solemn nod, and Zhi an approving smile. Lolidragon lightheartedly replied, "Alright, should be easy since you'll both get lost in the same place!"

* * *

It didn't take to much aimless wandering around the castle grounds to find Feng Wen in the training field, completely focused on tearing apart his fifth dummy, judging the amount of debris littered around him. In one swift move he took off both legs and one arm of the dummy, straw flying everywhere from the dismemberment.

"You know if I remember right, you never liked getting messy." I began, causing Feng Wen to twist his head around in my direction. His messy hair was covered in straw and drenched in sweat, with drops running down from his forehead to his cheek. "Never liked playing in the dirt like other kids, never had to get onto you about wearing clean clothes or taking a bath, unlike your sister."

He furrowed his brow, looking confused and slightly annoyed by my presence. "How did you find me?"

I gave a slight smile and shrugged, "The same way you got here, I suppose."

He stared at me with a dumbfounded look before he dropped his sword and sat himself down on the ground. As he brushed the straw out of his hair, he spoke, "I couldn't stand it any longer. After a month of being stuck in a stupid hospital, of slanderous rumors spreading around, Fan's presence growing stronger, and what happens? I end up sitting at a table where people are yelling at each other."

I sat down next to him on the dirt floor, "We just got back today, Feng Wen. There needs to be a strategy, something that I know you of all people recognize." _You've always been one to think before acting, ever since you were a little boy!_

"We don't have time for that!" He exclaimed, gesturing his arm up in a dramatic flair. "The fact of us being out for a month is exactly why we can't waste another moment! He's had time to build up, recruit an army and turn half of our forces against us!"

"Feng Wen, this isn't you... Please take a moment to calm down and clear your head!" I pleaded, having begun to see truly how different he was acting.

I instinctively put my hand over his, as I always did when I tried to comfort him in real life, but he jerked his hand away and stood up. "I can't, I won't! I won't let myself be held back and told I don't need to worry- that it isn't my problem! This is my battle as much as it is yours, so I am going to fight damn it!" He grabbed up his sword with a trembling hand and swung it violently at the dummy, taking its head off with a clean cut._  
_

Feng Wen's actions caused something to click in my brain, my motherly demeanor becoming the one I held as Prince. Feng Wen noticed, and he immediately scowled in response to the change as I got up to meet him face to face. "Could you even fight Fan, let alone defeat him?" I asked, knowing full well the weight of my words would have on him. "With such an arrogant attitude, I'm not too sure you could."

"I won the Battle Tournament!" He shouted, causing me to discreetly prepare myself for what would happen next. "I've defeated some of the best warriors in the game!"

"But you haven't defeated me. Fan has tasted defeat by my hand in battle before," I stepped back and pulled out my faithful dao, giving off a slight shine in the warm sunlight. "and if I recall we still haven't finished our duel, have we?"

His eyes narrowed and he changed into a defensive stance. "No... We haven't."

"Then let us continue!" I exclaimed, changing myself in my standard position. _Time to give you a lesson in humility, my dear son!_

"My pleasure!" He shouted, lunging directly at me. He spared not a moment of time, unleashing a barrage of strikes that were fast and powerful. I blocked all of the attacks, albeit with some difficulty, and successfully parried with a slash to the arm. _My intention is not to kill, but to wear him down. _I told myself, noticing the deep gash in his arm that began to ooze blood. _I'm__ a much higher level than him, so by stats alone I could bring him down in two blows. __  
_

Just because I was physically stronger than him didn't mean he was no match for me, though. And I was quickly reminded of that fact when he blocked my downward slash and suddenly struck me in the ribs with his left knee. I could easily tell broke at least two of my ribs from the amount of force and pain that was making me want to double over. The attack left me momentarily dazed, which he quickly took advantage with a flurry of strikes from his short sword. When I finally regained my composure and began to block him again a third of my health was already depleted.

Now I was on the defensive though, which was the worst position for me to be in. I was built for constant damage dealing, not as a tank where constant damage was being taken. But I knew how to turn it around to my favor, waiting for a good strike for me to parry. Feng Wen went for an diagonal slash which I blocked and pushed him back. He staggered, giving me the opportunity to strike him, successfully leaving a large bloody tear in his chest plate and thigh. I watched his health drop dramatically to a fourth left, his breathing becoming ragged. It didn't deter him, though- if anything it just made him even more aggressive than before. While I held the dominate position in the battle now, he didn't leave any opportunity be wasted to get any sort of nick or cut on me.

I could tell his fighting was off from the very beginning, immediately wailing on me in a manner unlike the style he always showed as I watched him in the tournament. He was being clumsy, having let me get a hit on him with the first attack I had done. His attacks were not very strong either, he was not going for any critical points like he usually did but opting instead for attacks that were quick and with a high chance of success. _Which are usually the weakest attacks! _I thought to myself, getting hit in the chest by another minor strike.

With an inward sigh, I decided that it was time to bring an end to this. _Hopefully he has realized now he can't just take Fan by himself, especially with how he is now. Or at least blew off enough steam he won't be so reckless!_ He made his next attack, a diagonal strike which would hit me from my left shoulder to my right hip. With careful precision, I swung my sword to mirror his attack, from the lower right to the upper left, angling it so it would be in the same line as his. The tip of my blade got to him first, slicing open his palm and sending his sword ten meters away.

I knew that alone wouldn't stop him, though. Weaponless, he immediately blocked my next swing by grabbing the hilt of my dao. He tried to grapple it out of my hand, but his level 56 character was no match for my level 92. I pushed him back with all my strength, which sent him flying into the nearby wall. Before he had a chance to get up, I rushed over and firmly pinned him to the wall. "Feng Wen... Do you understand now?"

The look of defeat in his eyes killed me, with it even being more painful because I was the one who ultimately caused it. _But it was for his own good, he had to be knocked down so he could build himself up as a better person. _"Yes... I do..."


End file.
